Sunday, December 9, 2007

Drenched by Downpours!

Although, we didn't have nearly as much as the Northwest did! Please click here for more info on how to help the animals who were affected by the flooding up there. There usually isn't as much publicity about animals in need in a situation like this as there is about the humans, but they need help desperately right now too, with their owners displaced.

I would guess we probably got about 3 inches here. The rain started on Thursday night, and it poured down. Then, it started to hail. The thunder and lightning was also really loud. I think this is the loudest storm I can remember in several years. I didn't really get any sleep that night because I kept listening for any noises from the horses... Plus, I kept worrying that I had left my car windows open. I knew I had closed them, but it kept drifting through my head - what if I forgot after all? You know how irritating that is, when you are too sleepy to make yourself STOP worrying, but you are too awake to forget about it? Things finally calmed down and it was only misting rain when I got up before dawn to go to work. Both horses were standing under the shelter looking bored with the rain, and I was glad they seemed to have tolerated the noise well.

Well, later that day, sometime between them getting fed in the morning and my coming home from work, one of them must have slipped into my HorseGuard electric tape fence. A lot of my fencing is welded wire fencing, with electric tape, but I don't have the welded wire fencing everywhere yet. Anyway, whichever horse it was, seems to have panicked at feeling the shock, and somehow pulled about 4 fiberglass fence posts over, and pulled the tape with conductors off the posts onto the ground before getting free! Yikes....

Upon discovering the fencing, I looked both horses over several times very carefully, and breathed a major sigh of relief that I have such a safe kind of fencing! I still don't know how a horse could have gotten tangled in it, because there weren't any loose parts, but oh well! I have a feeling that it was Anatolian, and I think it was his right rear leg, because he's been resting that leg a bit more than usual. Neither of them has any marks or rubs or limps at all, though. No swellings, nothing. So I am very grateful, and I'm praying that nothing shows up in the next few days, either! I am also very glad that neither horse tried to go over the downed fencing, and that they just stayed where they belong 'till I got home and repaired it!!!

So, I am very glad for the much-needed rain, and I hope we get more in a week or so, but I'd like some sunny weather for a few days now! :-) I hope you all had a great weekend!


L

4 comments:

photogchic said...

Scary to see fencing down. Glad they are OK. Had a great weekend...it actually snowed a bit today in downtown Portland---crazy weather!

Lori Schmidt (LoriProPhoto) said...

Hi L

I am trying to catch up again havent visited for ages. I am so glad the horses were okay, wire fencing is my biggest nightmare, the baby born this year got into it at 3 months old and ripped his hind leg open. It's all in my blog, I think you have been there recently but I cant remember if it was before or after the accident. The story is also on my other blog but I havent been able to keep that one up, its called Lori's Critters and you can find the link on my profile.

Anyway my point after all that was that I made a decision that I would eradicate the wire as I could and I built my first turnout enclosure out of landscape posts and used the white tape to keep them from chewing the wood. My theory was that the wood is visible and strong, no chance of them not seeing it and running through it and the tape would not do the same damage as fencing wire.

Hope you get some dry weather too, it has been cold here and in the past week we have had snow and yesterday freezing rain and today it is all melting and I have a slushy mess outside and all the horses indoors Yuk.

Keep warm.

Lori

Original L said...

Julie - Lucky you to have snow!!! We got snow higher up in the mountains, but we just had hail that was so thick it looked like snow at my place. I love snow - guess that's what happens when you grow up in the tropics... :-)

Lori - Nice to see you again. Yes, I've been following your blog, mainly to see the cool pics. Taxes is huge now! Nice to see you here; don't worry about catching up, I tend to write a lot. LOL

Rising Rainbow said...

It is scary to see fencing down. I hope everything turns out ok and I'm glad the horses stayed in and didn't use the opportunity to escape. That's always my biggest fear.

Thanks for posting about the horses and other livestock here. I heard this morning that hay is being brought up from other parts of the country but now they need dollars to pay for the fuel to get it distributed to those who need it.